Why are there no Sephora stores in Hong Kong?
We have quite a few Sephoras here in mainland China. And it seems like Hong Kong people wear more makeup than Chinese women, so wouldn’t a city like Hong Kong be a goldmine for Sephora?

Interesting story: it turns out that Sephora was in Hong Kong a few years ago, but then they packed their bags in March of 2010, just after about 1.5 years.

But why? Sephora gave some canned explanation about “instructions from France”and some folks on-line were grumbling about bad location, but my plugged-in friend from Hong Kong tells me that it’s pretty simple: HK already has something a lot like Sephora, and it’s called SaSa. The chain sells a wide array of makeup and skincare products, and there’s really no need for HK consumers to seek out a foreign look-alike. It probably also helps that you can find SaSa on just about every block in Hong Kong, and they sell cheap brands (what we Americans might consider “drugstore brands”) as well as luxury brands, including the likes of La Mer.

I’ve also noticed that there is no Sephora in Korea, either. I have my own theories about why Sephora hasn’t attempted to hit this market yet. More on that later.